IDF ground forces re-entered Gaza on Tuesday in what the army referred to as a “routine operation” to hunt for bombs planted along the security barrier.
Palestinian Authority sources said IDF tanks and bulldozers entered southern Gaza near the An-Nahdah neighborhood in eastern Rafiah, a key town which straddles the border with Gaza and Egypt, at approximately 9:00 a.m.
Residents in the area told the Associated Press (AP) that IDF bulldozers cleared out fields and leveled other areas east of Rafiah, about 500 meters from the barrier.
The IDF confirmed the activity in a statement quoted by the AP, saying it was “a routine operation to uncover explosive devices near the border fence in [Gaza].” A military spokesman added that two mortars were fired at the soldiers, but no one was injured and no damage was caused in the attack. IDF troops did not return fire.
The Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency reported that the Hamas terrorist organization’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, claimed to have launched a “projectile” at the IDF vehicles as they crossed into Gaza.
According to the report, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)’s military wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades also claimed to have exchanged shots with Israeli special operations forces in the Al-Bura neighborhood of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.
More than 140 homemade short-range Kassam rockets, medium-range Grad Katyusha rockets and mortar shells have been fired at Jewish communities in southern Israel in the past two weeks. The IDF has killed at least 17 Gaza terrorists, destroyed a key kidnappers’ tunnel and intercepted numerous other would-be attackers in the same period.